Falling
by Faye-Naruse
Summary: Romano waits for Spain, but he doesn't come until the sixth day. Spain/Romano, Gakuen Hetalia-verse.


Falling

Romano counted the days with his fingers.

"Wednesday…Thursday…Friday…"

He frowned when he was left staring at his open palm. It had been five days.

"That idiot."

In a swift motion, Romano yanked his schoolbag off its hook and stomped away from his desk. The setting sun outlined his lone silhouette against the classroom door. He stood before it with frozen feet and gritted teeth. He was stalling. Stupidly. Because it had been five days.

When the silence of the empty room got to him, Romano finally pulled the door open and took off down the hallway.

* * *

Romano glared at his open palm and the index finger of his other hand. Six days had now passed, and here he was again sitting alone in his classroom. Like an idiot.

"No, I'm not," he disagreed with himself, shaking his head. Then again, Veneziano offered to do what a Certain Dumbass was supposed to be doing and he had refused.

Romano leaned his cheek on a closed fist and sighed. His gaze wandered to the window. Autumn was sweeping across the trees of the school courtyard. He watched a leaf colored a shade lighter than his hair drift in the breeze slowly, slowly… It distracted him from the sound of the door sliding open.

Spain suppressed his initial gasp. He hadn't really thought Romano would be waiting for him. He only figured it couldn't hurt to check. The final bell had rung, emptying the hallways of students, long ago. He tiptoed closer to the waiting boy.

Beyond the window, fall leaves were scattered across the ground like the messy palette of a sunset painting. Spain felt his heart squeeze as he took in the sight of Romano framed by the reds and oranges and browns, his chestnut hair and lowered hazel gaze complements of the enchanting scene.

Creak. Romano looked over and nearly fell out of his chair. Spain was leaning against a neighboring desk with his arms behind his back. He grinned sheepishly at his surprised companion.

Romano was happy but upset, excited but flustered and it all showed on his face. He slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment and reached for his bag. He managed a step towards the door when –

"Roma…" His sleeve tightened on his arm.

He wanted that not to be all it took for him to give in, but it was.

_Stupid jerk._

"Were you waiting for me?" Spain asked. He lowered his hand from Romano's sleeve to the desk between them, his other hand still hidden.

"And wh… what if I was?"

Spain only smiled, but it reached his eyes and spread all over his face and Romano loved that. It was the reason he was now making eye contact, not that Spain needed to know.

"It's been six days, you stupid idiot."

"Six days?"

"That time, you said every day."

"Wha-?"

"_That time_, you said we'd… walk home together. Every day."

Spain felt a twinge of guilt in his gut. Had Romano waited for him all this time? The scene he encountered earlier took on a tint of melancholy.

"Sorry, Roma… I shouldn't have made you wait, but I wanted to keep it a surprise."

"…surprise?"

"Hold your arms out to me," Spain said. Romano eyed him suspiciously before doing as instructed, standing directly across from the other boy. "Close your eyes."

Romano looked as though he were waiting for a hug. His cheeks were completely flushed, and Spain ignored the urge to touch them. He wanted to feel that heat beneath his fingers but not right now. Not yet.

A few seconds ticked by.

"Spa-" Romano began when something was dropped into his arms. It was soft and kinda heavy and when he opened his eyes, he blinked at it.

…It was a large stuffed tomato.

"Happy one-month anniversary, Roma~" Spain said with repressed enthusiasm. He looked about ready to jump over the desk to close the space between them. "It took me almost a week to find just the right gift and fish it out of the claw machine!"

Romano stared at his armful of red topped with leaves of green felt. With ease, he could picture Spain continually attempting to win this oversized plush from a claw machine. The intense expression of concentration on his face was surely confusing to passersby.

_How stupid he would have looked…_

Romano laughed, and Spain would swear his heart felt like chocolate under the summer sun. Desks scraped against the floor as he bumped them out of his path. Silence filled the classroom once again as laughter was cut off by meeting lips. He couldn't resist anymore, splaying his fingers along Romano's jaw. The boy's cheeks were warm, as he knew they would be.

When they pulled away, Spain laughed for no reason at all.

"Wh-what is it?" Romano asked.

"Nothing. I'm just happy."

"Idiot…" He shoved him a little.

"Sorry about that," Spain said, nodding at the stuffed tomato now upside down on the floor. He had knocked it out of Romano's grip. He bent over to pick it up.

Romano cleared his throat as Spain handed it back to him. He hardly noticed that he dropped it. The sudden kiss had wiped his memory in that instant, filling his brain with thoughts of a single thing. Or rather, a single person, not that Spain needed to know.

Spain kissed him once more, leaning over the tomato in Romano's arms, before moving up through the aisle of desks. He held out a hand. "Let's go home, yeah?"

Romano practically dropped the tomato again in his haste to take Spain's hand. Instead, he squeezed the plush to his chest.

"…It's almost been a week, you know."

"I won't leave you alone again, Roma," Spain replied in a heartbeat. His expression was so serious that Romano didn't know what to say. He smiled at the ground, cheeks flushed, and reached for the waiting hand.

Their fingers curled around each other as they left the classroom, big stuffed tomato in tow.


End file.
